Second Amendment

Whenever there is a school shooting, liberals try to capitalize by pushing for more gun control. But a recent story here in Minnesota reinforces a point that we have made before: would-be “shooters” are usually copycats who admire the fame that prior mass murderers have achieved. If we really want to cut down on school shootings, in particular, the most effective measure would be to prohibit news media from reporting »

Our old friend Ammo Grrrll has filed another edition of Thoughts From the Ammo Line. Ammo Grrrll speaks: You know that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy says, “We aren’t in Kansas any more, Toto”? We had only been back in our dusty little village (DLV) in Arizona for a few weeks after the summer break when we were shopping for groceries at Fry’s. My husband picked up »

Our old friend Ammo Grrrll has an important declaration to make. She declares that she loves (“LOVES”) her guns. Ammo Grrrll speaks: Bill Maher, famous One-Percenter donor of one million dollars to Obama’s 2012 campaign, wants us to know that despite looking like he would lose a pillowfight with Pajama Boy, he is one macho, strapped-up, packin’ dude who has at least one gun. But – unlike those crazy, wacko »

Here are two completely different videos for Friday night (or Saturday morning) viewing. The only thing they have in common is that they are short. This one is from the National Rifle Association. It debuted this afternoon at the NRA’s convention in Indianapolis, and responds to Michael Bloomberg’s announcement that he will spend $50 million to try to limit our Second Amendment rights. The people you see are contributors to »

In June 2012, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez banned all sales of firearms and ammunition to civilians: With Chavez’s new gun-control law, only the Venezuelan army, police officials and certain groups such as security and private detective firms are allowed to buy firearms, and then only from state-owned weapons manufacturers and importers. … According to a press statement, the Chavez government initiated a gun amnesty of sorts in order to phase »

Our friend Ammo Grrrll is back in the ammo line: After my first post, Responder Pete Parks (Salisbury University) said, “Finding ammo is a pain.” Es verdad, Pedro, es verdad! Bilingual Arizona talk for “Yes, Pete, it’s true!” But, fear not, for Ammo Grrrll is here to tell you all you need to know about succeeding in the difficult world of scarce ammo: Find someone who already HAS ammo and »

Economist Mark Gius has a new study in the journal Applied Economics Letters that bears on the gun control debate. Gius finds that permissive concealed carry laws (generally, “shall issue”) result in a lower rate of homicide involving firearms. Conversely, state-level assault weapons bans have no statistically significant effect on the homicide rate involving guns. This is the abstract: The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects »

Our old friend Susan Vass has had a productive career in stand-up comedy making people laugh for a living. I’m not sure if she’s still working, but she still thinks funny thoughts. She has forwarded current meditations under the pseudonym Ammo Grrrll in columns she calls “Thoughts from the ammo line.” Ammo Grrrll writes: A few years ago, I moved from a blue to a red planet. No, wait, I »

Random observations on a Sunday afternoon, tied together thematically by Barack Obama’s scoffing at people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them”–a group that, in his mind, no doubt includes me. Let’s start with guns. Because of my Achilles tendon surgery, I hadn’t been to the range for six weeks or more. So it was fun to be back at my favorite gun »

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens was one of the great mischief-makers in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. At age 93, he has now written a book in which he recommends six amendments to the Constitution. Presumably these are the changes he wasn’t able to implement the easy way, via a 5-4 vote on the court. One of Stevens’ proposed changes relates to the Second Amendment, and is intended »

A Jacksonville, Florida jury has found Michael Dunn guilty of several counts of attempted murder, but hung on the more serious charges of first and second degree murder, and manslaughter. The facts, very briefly: Dunn pulled into a gas station with his fiancé. Black teenagers in a nearby SUV were playing loud rap music. Dunn asked them to turn it down; they refused. Dunn testified in his own defense, something »

Yesterday a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Peruta v. County of San Diego that the county’s broad prohibition against concealed carry violates the Second Amendment. The context was a California law that that generally bans both open and concealed carry, but allows individuals to apply to local authorities for a concealed carry permit. In San Diego County, an ordinary citizen could not get a concealed »

Why liberals make “assault rifles” the main focus of their gun control efforts is a mystery, for at least two reasons. First, rifles of all kinds account for a minuscule portion of homicides, far fewer than knives, clubs, shotguns or bare hands. Second, there is no such thing as an assault rifle. What liberals have in mind when they use that term is a species of semiautomatic rifle. But they »

Daniel Defense is a Georgia company that makes guns, including AR-15 style rifles. It attempted to place a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl broadcast, but the NFL turned it down. The commercial featured a Marine who has returned to civilian life and uses a Daniel Defense firearm to protect his home and family. The commercial was inoffensive and never depicted a gun, but the NFL apparently has a policy »

The anniversary of the Newtown murders passed quietly, with no serious effort by liberals to revive their failed gun control proposals–none of which would have done a thing to prevent the Newtown murders, as pretty much everyone now understands. In Colorado, high school student Karl Pierson was suspended for threatening to murder his debate coach. It turns out they should have arrested him, not just suspended him. Pierson wasn’t kidding. »

That’s what I thought after spending a couple of hours in the flagship Bass Pro Shops store in Springfield, Missouri, where we are spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my oldest daughter and her husband. The place is huge; this is one small corner. Click to enlarge: The store features wildlife, both stuffed and living. I wouldn’t want to catch this fish: We checked out the guns, as I am thinking »

Having had enough of Obamacare for the moment, I’m in the mood to talk about guns. I haven’t written much about firearms lately, but that isn’t because the current ammo shortage has prevented me from shooting. On the contrary, I’ve been shooting regularly because a reader of this site put me in touch with a source in West Virginia who has kept me well supplied with 9 mm. and 22LR »